Being diplomatic won't get results, says advocate for developmentally disabled

Nov. 16, 2013

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Christopher Cross doesn’t mince words when talking about the shortfalls he sees in the services being provided to people with developmental disabilities.

When asking state and local officials to address the problem, his requests often come with a double helping of criticism, rather than diplomacy.

“I’m not a diplomatic person ... and I’m sick of government always having excuses,” Cross said when questioned about the negative tone of much his correspondence with City Council and the Mayor’s Commission on Human Rights.

Cross said he tried the “soft approach” in his first email to council members on Oct. 2 but felt “disrespected” when no one responded.

“They started the adversarial roles here,” he said. “Obviously ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ aren’t going to work, so I’m going to have to be demanding.”

Mayor Bob Stephens, who replied to Cross on Oct. 30 and asked the Mayor’s Commission on Human Rights to review the proposal, said the initial lack of response may have been due to the blanket nature of Cross’s email.

“If (emails) just come to me, I respond to them,” he said. “The ones that fall through the cracks are the ones addressed to everybody, because everyone assumes someone else will respond.”

Stephens said that, as a general policy, the council member representing a letter writer’s council zone — if it can be determined — will respond to those emails.

Cross mentioned in his Oct. 2 email that he lives in Zone 1, represented by Councilman Jeff Seifried.

“It does disturb me greatly that my own council member is blowing me off,” he said. “That to me is just not acceptable.”

Seifried said last week he recalled reading Cross’s original email to council but had not realized it needed a response.

“My personal policy when I have emails directed toward me, I respond to those, usually within a few days’ time. But we receive a lot of general email traffic that either doesn’t have a request tied to it or is some free-flowing thoughts … if there’s not a question or some sort of request, I usually don’t respond to those,” he said.

He said he hadn’t received a phone call about the issue but would be happy to talk to Cross.

“I guess I need to get more educated on this particular topic,” he said, adding that he thinks “the right approach is going first to the Mayor’s Commission.”